Tuesday, April 26, 2005

MOVING THROUGH CHAOS. I find myself returning every now and then to Warren Bennis’ little book On Becoming a Leader (Addison Wesley, 1989). The following quote is from the chapter “Moving Through Chaos.”

INOVATION AND INTUITION. “A leader is, by definition, an innovator. He does things other people haven’t done or don’t do. He does things in advance of other people. He makes new things. He makes old things new. Having learned from the past, he lives in the present, with one eye on the future. And each leader pulls it all together in a different way. To do that…leaders must be right-brain, as well as left-brain thinkers. They must be intuitive, conceptual, synthesizing, and artistic.”

LEARN, LEAD, GROW. “Learning to lead is, on one level, learning to manage change…and that includes changes within the leader. One of a leader’s principal gifts is his ability to use his experiences to grow in office. The leader does it better and better and better, but is never satisfied. The leader knows better than anyone that the fundamental problems of life are insoluble, but he persists anyway, and he continues to learn.”

OUR CURRICULUM: ADVERSITY. “Leaders learn by leading, and the learn best by leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, so problems make leaders. Difficult bosses, lack of vision and virtue in the executive suite, circumstances beyond their control, and their own mistakes have been the leaders’ basic curriculum.”

Twitter @indybikehiker

Read my Novel - 'What Saved Grace?'

My novel published in March 2013 as an ebook. It's a story about the beauty and complexity of compassion. Click on the book cover to go to my book page on Smashwords--it can be downloaded in any ebook format (including Kindle apps). It's available for Nook at Barnes & Noble online, as an iBook from the iTunes Store, and for Kindle at Amazon.com. Not available in print.